Just bought owner direct. Use a solid contract. No possession until paid in full and tranfer title. If hes cash its easy to swap in person. If its a bank they will require at least pictures of the title, a contract, insurance proof, likely a survey. The 15 percent down payment is your responsibility to collect at contract or at least prior to closing. I suggest at contract since youre taking the boat off the market counting on the buyers due diligence. Perhaps fully refundable if the survey isn’t acceptable. Either way make sure the money is cleared to your account at closing.

All that...or if you trust the buyer you can do what I did. I handed over a chunk of cash so I could use the boat immediately. The loan took two weeks to get the title processed, and I wanted the extra teo weeks oc use. All went smoothly.

I don’t like dealing with a broker to buy or sell a boat anymore. The last five boats I have had I sold myself. Financial side is real easy. You wire the money to me, when the funds arrive, you get the boat and the associated paperwork.

I have sold 29 boats over the years . Cash or a cashiers check is NOT king unless you know the buyer. You would need to check every bill and cashiers checks can be altered. Wire transfer only.
The paper work is fairly easy. If you are documented you can down load the needed forms and if not you sign over the title and it will be up to the buyer to register in his state and pay any required taxes and fees. Copy any signed bill of sale
and do not hand the buyer a signed title without it being filled out and signed by him which you need to copy.
As stated above your bank may help with the transfer as most people will not want to wire money without proof of title etc.

I have sold 29 boats over the years . Cash or a cashiers check is NOT king unless you know the buyer. You would need to check every bill and cashiers checks can be altered. Wire transfer only.
The paper work is fairly easy. If you are documented you can down load the needed forms and if not you sign over the title and it will be up to the buyer to register in his state and pay any required taxes and fees. Copy any signed bill of sale
and do not hand the buyer a signed title without it being filled out and signed by him which you need to copy.
As stated above your bank may help with the transfer as most people will not want to wire money without proof of title etc.

Click to expand...

This summer I withdrew some money in $100 bills from my bank to pay for fuel on a boat trip. First stop was South Seas Island Resort at Captiva Island. I pad for my slip and fuel in cash. South Seas ran the $100’s thru the money machine and three of them were counterfeit. This was cash I personally got from the bank. They were the old style bills, hard to check if fake. I wouldn’t take cash from someone now even if I knew them.

I don’t like dealing with a broker to buy or sell a boat anymore. The last five boats I have had I sold myself. Financial side is real easy. You wire the money to me, when the funds arrive, you get the boat and the associated paperwork.

Click to expand...

I did this when I sold my last boat. The guy was paying cash I am pretty sure, his bank handle the wire - it was very easy.

I would not take a cashiers check from someone I did not know. If one of those is forged you stand less chance of collecting than if it was a bad personal check.

I tried to pay for my SeaDoo with a cashiers check and the credit union that had the loan for the seller would not take a cashiers check. After some discussion they took my personal check over a cashiers check from Bank of America or cash.

Will you really be able to sell your boat for more without a broker than with a broker? Everyone always dreams they are going to keep that broker money. If I'm the buyer and you don't have a broker I want a better deal for the hassle I have because you don't have a broker to handle the transaction. I don't trust you to hold the deposit, you may not even own the boat. How do I know who you are? You may be a craigslist scammer placing an ad and meeting folks at the boatyard to pick up deposit checks. That scam happens in homes, cars, and likely boats.

I am not a boat broker, but I did just buy a boat and had no interest in screwing with owner sellers...